The Gamer and The Doctor
by NoteEmmy
Summary: Eleven and Amy find themselves aboard a ship- Magical puzzles come into play. The spirit forms a new friendship with a certain Tenth Doctor. Craziness. The chances of me updating this story are nil, but I hope you have fun reading it!


The grind of the TARDIS engine echoed throughout the night. The Doctor was busy running about his beloved machine, hitting the surface panels, flicking buttons and twisting dials. The whole machine was shaking as he tried to get it to fly right. There was a specific destination, a sweet spot of a signal he was supposed to be following. He could leave only so much up to his beloved machine but sometimes it needed help getting where it needed to be. Right now was not the time to be late or even a mile off. And this Doctor was really good at being late or just a mile away from where he really needed to be.

"What do you mean a puzzle? Like pieces in a box or something?" Amy asked, a little bit of annoyance slipped into her voice.

"Anything! Any kind of puzzle. It could be in a Rubik's cube for all I know!" The Doctor answered, still flailing about his time machine like a mad man.

They hit a particularly nasty turn, both the man and the girl taking a tumble to the floor. But as usual they were all smiles and laughs. The Doctor knew what he was doing, after all. And if he didn't he usually figured something out pretty quick. Amy trusted him more than any other person in the entire universe. So she wasn't too particularly worried when he'd started spouting off his usual nonsense of "here's an alien where it shouldn't be let's go get it!".

The slender, brown haired man jumped up to his feet, staring at the screen intently. It had seemed that they'd landed.

"Now where are you..." He spoke lowly, really to himself, questioning quietly. Reaching into his pocket he gathered up his sonic screwdriver and gave a nod to Amy. "Seems to be night time so let's keep quiet." Bringing a finger to his lips to emphasize this ideal.

The red head rolled her eyes. "I don't think it's me you're needing to shut up." A wry grin, a little jab. All in good fun.

The Doctor returned it before going over to the doors and opening them. There was the usual squeak as he looked out into wherever he'd landed, eyes darting in all directions. It was dark, darker than it should have been. He was tempted to go back and check his coordinates again but shook the idea off. No time. Not now. Just like always he'd bumble through this. If the TARDIS brought him here, that's where he belonged. So he stepped from his blue box, Amy in tow, keeping a careful watch.

"Is that..." Amy whispered quietly.

"The ocean." The Doctor mused, sliding the sonic out to get a reading of their area. But he continued to move, taking the lead up a flight of stairs.

Quickly they realized they'd parked the TARDIS in the basement of a cruise ship, it seemed. Nothing really remarkable stood out about their territory; just loads of sea and sandy beaches miles away from them. He sighed. Maybe they should go back and get another reading. But there was a soft blip from the screwdriver, really one of the ones only he could hear. He pointed it to the left and began walking along the deck.

There was this giddy feeling, as usual, just following the Doctor along for a journey. But Amy was astute as always, checking her surroundings. Sometimes the man missed things in his excitement. Whatever he'd been blabbering on about before sounded very important, like most of the usual junk he went on and on about. So it was up to her as his companion to watch out for any signs of trouble. While the Doctor was a smart man he was sometimes rather... daft. Before the turned the rail of the ship, Amy pulled his arm back.

A very tall man was standing at the front of the ship, seeming to just be staring out into the distance. His stance was completely rigid, stony blue eyes staring as if the only thing he could see on the horizon was his future. But none of that caught Amy's eye. The only thing she was looking at-

"What sort of jacket is that?" She giggled slightly under her breath, still trying to be within the definition of 'quiet'.

The Doctor looked him over again, taking in more than just what this man was- but yes, the clothing as well. "And you thought bowties were bad..." The man's jacket was really something to be marveled at. A white trench coat it looked like, but at the line of the hips it seemed to jut out and flare.

"What planet are we on again?" She teased.

The Doctor looked around as if he could feel the presence of something here. "Earth..." A drawback, almost as if he wasn't sure anymore.

Quick as he had he spun again, sticking his screwdriver out like it was some kind of weapon. Sometimes it fooled people. Sometimes. But they'd been caught just as it seemed the sun was about to rise. The slight peek of light announcing the day was enough to give him a clearer view of the people who were watching him. They didn't look dangerous, at least.

"Who are you?" A blonde man asked, looking at least a little more menacing than the rest.

"Hang on a minute-" Amy tried to interject, but she was cut off.

"Stowaways? Of course. Why was I expecting anything less than perfect security." It was a scathing remark from behind them, the tall blue-eyed man from earlier.

A very short boy decked out in leather and with the craziest hair-do the Doctor had ever seen (on a human at least) stepped forward. He tilted his head as he looked over the kid. "What are you doing here?"

Ah, there it was! He nudged Amy giving a little look to the thing around the boy's neck. A golden puzzle. He pointed the screwdriver again. "Sorry folks, this won't take but just a minute! I'm the- ship inspector, by the way. See, here." He held out his trusty psychic paper.

"I didn't know we could be inspected out at sea." The blonde spoke up again, a little skeptical sounding, but at least he bought it.

"That paper is blank." More than one person said this response, the blue-eyed man and the short strange boy being among them.

"Huh? What are you talking about-" Three more people tried to interject.

This was turning into a big, very big mess. And the Doctor didn't have time for it. "Alright, I'm the Doctor! And I'm here to fix a little leak. You see an alien hopped along the surface of your world earlier today- ... yesterday? Months ago maybe- But that isn't the point!" Getting ahead of himself, or behind. It didn't really matter. "What matters is that I'm here to fix the leak you see! And it starts right with this..." The green light at the end of the screwdriver lit up again. Ready to take aim. "Come out come out..."

"Stop!"

The shouts seemed not to matter as he pressed the button. The puzzle around the boy's neck shattered, and with it the boy almost. The look in his wide violet eyes was that of someone who'd just gotten shot. The Doctor was sure he'd remember that look for the rest of his life. The puzzle shattered into pieces, raining down on the deck of the ship. The boy fell to his knees, scrabbling to collect the pieces, whispering something under his breath in a hush. He seemed devastated.

The Doctor didn't really have time for that, though. He was waiting for something- anything. Where was that alien? Had he been wrong? ...Well that wasn't very good, was it. There was a strong grip on his shoulder as he was pulled back. "I don't know who you think you are but-"

Amy interjected with a very hard shove to the blue-eyed man's side. He scowled very darkly at her. "Hands off, will ya? He's just doing his job. ...isn't that right?" She tried to get the Doctor to speak up, but he seemed lost.

Wrong. He'd been wrong. And the tears in those large eyes were somehow hurting him. He hadn't meant to hurt the kid- it was only a puzzle. Why was he so upset? The Doctor got to his knees. "It wasn't meant to happen like that, you have to believe me." But who was he trying to reassure? Himself? Or the kid?

Those violet eyes looked up at him, and the Doctor saw forgiveness in them. "I just have to put it back together."

Slowly pieces were put in the proper place, the puzzle building up to everything it was supposed to be. The crowd stayed, not moving, watching with intent eyes. There was something very wrong about this situation. Something wrong. Why was everyone just standing there? What was so important about this puzzle? And where was the alien?

"Where is-" The weird-haired boy was looking for the last piece. What seemed to be the center piece to the puzzle.

The Doctor looked around too, grinning when he grabbed it. "Here! In we go!"

"No don't!"

Something happened then that he couldn't quite comprehend. There was a blinding force in the back of his mind as he pushed the last puzzle piece forward. He'd have been knocked off his feet if he'd been standing. As it was he fell over, quite like a ragdoll, eyes wide open. There had been something there and now it was here. He could feel it. And it hurt.

"Doctor!" Amy was calling for him.

"Yuugi, where is..." A smaller brunette girl was touching this so-called Yuugi's shoulder.

The boy shook his head. "He's not there! He's gone!"

These words seemed to inspire a frightened hush amongst the crowd. All except for Amy who was shaking the Doctor, trying to get him to come back. But he laid there, wide eyed, and yet with a great mask of pain. Something was inside him now. Something dark. Something angry.

Atem had felt his existence shatter when that light had been pointed his way. He hadn't known what it was going to do, and yet he had somehow. That was why he had refused to switch with Yuugi. Then it would have been Yuugi's shattered consciousness lying in the puzzle pieces on the floor. Despite this being the end of their journey, Atem was still his protector. He couldn't have that. So he stayed. He stayed knowing that he was about to be broken. But what was going on now was not something he had anticipated.

He'd been brought back within the scope of someone's mind- someone's, but not Yuugi's. This mind was almost like his, set up in such a nonsensical way that it nearly frustrated him upon seeing it. Puzzles. His journey had been nearly over and yet there was always one last puzzle to solve. He called out but no one heard him. The only way to fix it was to journey forward. To push deeper and break the barriers that were set up in front of him.

He did. One by one Atem crashed through any last line of defense that would dare hold him back from Yuugi; that would dare hold him back from fulfilling his last piece of destiny. This was not where he belonged, and he would set a blazing fire to the surroundings to mark his place here. If he would not forget, so this place wouldn't either. Someone would remember what they'd done was wrong. Someone would remember his name as they should- would remember the man they'd wronged.

And at the end of his journey he was faced with a long corridor. There were numbers along the walls, but that was all. Bland beige with dark, bold, black numbers.

"A number game?" He wondered aloud, his voice still carrying an echo. But what number was the right number? Or which one was he supposed to pick.

He stood still for a moment to try and figure it out. Five numbers on each side of the wall. Five plus five was ten. Such an easy puzzle. Was ten the number? He narrowed his eyes at the number, coming to a stop right in front of it. He reached up, fingers brushing over the darkened numeric. Something about it stung all the way down his arm, as if something was trying to keep him out.

Atem never took no for an answer.

He pushed back despite the pain that rocketed down his spine. It only served to make him angrier. And then an archway opened for him. He smirked, slightly satisfied as he walked through it.

The room was dark save for a few pictures strewn about the walls, a few random items that had no meaning to this Pharaoh. And then he saw a man sitting in the corner. Crimson eyes traced the form as brown eyes looked up. The man's eyebrows knitted together, eyes narrowing.

"...how did you get in here?"

Atem blinked, stepping further into the room. "The question is how to get out." This was not where he wanted to be.

This man jumped to his feet. "Who are you supposed to be?" He sounded angry, and yet there was nothing in his voice that was making Atem feel unwanted. Almost as if this man really wanted to conversate, despite being unnerved by his sudden presence. Was he a prisoner? There seemed to be a resonating hold Atem felt from him. Almost as if they were kindred spirits.

"My name is Atem." So much pride. He missed that name. It was his again and he'd never forget it.

The man grinned so widely. "Well Atem, I'm the Doctor." And then his face fell slowly. "...at least I used to be." There was a deep sadness in his being.

The King of Games approached him closer. "Used to-"

"No, wait!" He shouted, rushing forward. The door seemed to close behind Atem as he'd left the center of it. The Doctor ran towards the now closed gateway, banging his fist on it. "Always." Another soft sound of sadness. He turned back to regard Atem who didn't look perturbed in the slightest. "You're trapped in here now. Do you understand that?"

The man merely smirked. "I'm only ever trapped when I choose to be, Doctor."

The brunet blinked once, blank, and then grinned again. "Is that so?"

"It is."

"Well then!" He seemed happier than he had been in quite a long time as he went to shake this Atem's hand. "You, Atem, are my new friend."

A friend. Yuugi had taught him the importance of friendship. So he smiled a little, returning the gesture, a nod of his head. "So, Doctor, is there a way out of here?"

The man kept grinning, even when he delivered the line- "Nope."

Atem smirked. "Then let's make one."

"Oh, I'm gonna like you." He clapped his hands together with such maniacal glee. "Come on then, Atem, _Allons-y!_"


End file.
